Presently on field work sites, such as, for example construction sites or areas being surveyed, workers carryout various measurement and data collection functions. For instance, workers utilize survey equipment, total stations, and other measurement instruments such as Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers, to collect data associated with the work site which they are working at. Collectively, the instruments used to survey, measure, control machines and instruments, and collect data associated with a field work site may be referred to as field devices. As a result of this data collection, the workers create data files on the field devices that they use for the data collection functions. Depending on the type of work they are doing, workers might use several different field devices to perform data collection or may use a single field device to collect data at several work sites. Typically, each field device records collected data in some type of a data file. As a result, workers end up with one or more data files which may be on different field devices and have different file formats.
Typically, after such data collection from a field work site, the next step is to have the data processed. To do this, collected data from one or more sources is analyzed and processed to produce results that are based upon various mathematical network adjustments and the like. An example of such processing may be correction for anomalies in a GPS satellite navigation signal. This data processing is not typically performed in the field. One reason is that the data processing often requires special equipment (e.g., fast computers, big display screens, and/or special computer programs), additional data, and/or special operator skill sets that field personnel may not have. Further, it is not productive to have field personnel performing data processing, as their time is better spent collecting more data. Further still, it is likely that the collected data will be used in the office/headquarters for management functions and decision making rather than immediately in the field. Thus, to get the data processed it must be returned to a home office or some other such place where the raw collected data can be analyzed, processed, and/or assimilated.
Presently, field workers typically take their field devices back to the office or work center and download collected data (such as with a memory card or a cable connection) into a computer located in the office. Thus, a common work flow for a surveyor or other worker who collects such data from a field work site is as follows: drive to the office/work center; load work order data on the field device; drive to work site; collect data using the field device; drive back to the office office/work center and download data from field device into an office computer. This is very inefficient, as the worker is essentially transporting the work order and/or the collected data back and forth from the office via vehicle.
Alternatively, in some instances, a worker may copy files from a field device to portable computer that has a wired or wireless connection (such as via cellular telephone) to a network such as the internet. The worker then emails these files back to the office/work center. Likewise a work order may also be emailed to a worker. Email is more efficient and expedient than transferring work orders and/or collected data from place to place via vehicle, but is cumbersome, and error prone since is relies on a field worker to select the proper files, copy them, email them, install them, and/or configure them upon a field device. It is also cumbersome at the office/work center, as a recipient of emailed files will then have to remove the files from an email message and store the files in a proper location or will have to package work order information as attachments to outgoing email messages
Thus, a technology for transferring information between an office/work center and a field device which addresses one or more of the above-mentioned inefficiencies or issues would be advantageous.